


Flesh and Bone

by PromptlyGoing



Category: Monster of the Week (Tabletop RPG), Seven Miles (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Bondage, Canon Non-Binary Character, D/s, Hook-Up, Meet-Cute (???), Other, Overstimulation, Urban Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 18:46:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18697177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PromptlyGoing/pseuds/PromptlyGoing
Summary: “Sweetheart, darling.  You are not the only monster here tonight.”  It’s not so much a kiss as it is a gasp of shared air, teasing and cruel.  Avery’s lips are chapped and trembling against the curve of Evalyn’s smile.“Now please, let me take you home.”In another world, a young assassin and a demon-bound waitress meet in Seattle, tumble into bed, and maybe, just maybe, fall in love.





	Flesh and Bone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MQ1693](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MQ1693/gifts).



> For Morgan, who waited an entire semester for me to finish this and is the most wonderful writing cheerleader a friend could ask for.

The new kid is pretty.  A piece of work, but pretty.

“You’re a little far from home, aren’t you?” Evalyn asks.  The diner always had weird sorts passing through at this hour of the night.  Drunks. Insomniacs. The sad and quiet. The ravers. Evalyn just keeps leaning her hip against the bathroom door as she watches the visitor wash the blood off their hands.  The rickety old porcelain sink is stained with streaks of red.

They pause.  “How do you know?”  Above them, the lamp flickers.  Evalyn shrugs.

“Your accent.  Not Caribbean, that’s for sure.  Central? South America? Argentina,” she says, almost teasingly.  “Oh don’t look so offended, fine, your inflection is impeccable.”

Evalyn reaches into her apron pocket and waves their passport.  “Avery,” she croons. The name tastes nice in her mouth. She makes a point to bite her lip on the ‘V’, make it pop.  “You dropped this on the floor earlier. I thought I’d pick it up for you.”

The visitor – Avery – goes still.  Their eyes narrow. “I didn’t,” they say, clear, with confidence.  “I wouldn’t.”

They weren’t wrong.  Evalyn allows herself a little smile.  “Anyone can get a little careless sometimes, it’s okay,” she says.  She walks over and sets the passport down on the side of the sink, beside the droplets of blood-stained water.  Avery is still staring at her. Evalyn gives the beaten-up booklet a little pat. “I was thinking though. Seattle’s a cold, lonely place to wander around on your own during this time of night.  And it looks like you’ve just finished up something rather…messy. Do you have a place to stay?”

Avery stares at her before barking out a harsh laugh.  “Are you trying to pick me up?” they ask incredulously.  “Oh lady, lady. You don’t know what you’re getting into.”  They grab the passport and shove it into the back pocket of their army pants.  Evalyn can see the hard shift of muscle in their arm as they move, despite the numerous bandages wrapped around it.  Knife wounds, if Evalyn had to hazard a guess. Absently she licks her lips.

Evalyn has recently finished up some business of her own.  She’s antsy, restless, high with the adrenaline rush of it.  “Don’t be like that, sweetheart,” she murmurs, and reaches over to lay a hand on that bicep.  Look, she was only human, sue her for wanting to touch.

It’s a mistake.

Avery moves faster than anyone Evalyn’s ever seen in her life.  The tile of the bathroom wall slams against her back as Avery presses their forearm against her throat – not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to send a message.  Evalyn breathes in deeply through her nose as they lean in and murmur into her ear. Their hair falls around her face. It smells of gun oil.

“Listen,” Avery breathes.  “You’re a very pretty lady, and I’m very flattered.  But nice diner waitresses like you don’t want to fool around with people like me.  Go get your thrills somewhere else.”

Evalyn narrows her eyes.  “Let go of me,” she says quietly and puts all her will behind it.

Avery doesn’t move.

There is a brief moment of panic.  It’s distracting enough that Evalyn almost misses Avery’s next words.  “If I let go, will you promise me you’ll walk out of this bathroom and forget you ever saw me?” A small smile creeps over their face.  “Sneaky little waitress with clever hands.”

Oh, Evalyn will not be condescended to like this.  “Let me go,” she hisses. Effortlessly, like breathing, she reaches out with her mind and _pushes_ .     
  
Avery blinks, sways but doesn’t move.  They frown. “What-“

What?  “I said, let _go_ ,” she commands, putting every ounce of her considerable mental strength behind the command.     
  
The pressure eases off her neck but Evalyn can tell.  It’s not because of anything she’s said, it’s the flash of hurt in Avery’s eye, the thin press of their mouth as they give a smirk Evalyn can tell they really don’t feel.  

“See?  It’s better for gentle things like you to avoid monsters like me.”  

Oh. _Oh_.  

Evalyn’s heart stutters in her chest.  It’s a little thrilling, a little nerve-wracking.  Perhaps it’s even a little bit of relief. In all the years she’s been stirring up trouble in this city she’s never met someone so resistant to her suggestibility.  

Suddenly, Evalyn _wants_.  

“Oh, sweetheart,” she murmurs and brings a hand up to cup their cheek.  Avery’s eyes widen. Can they feel it? Can they feel everything Evalyn is feeling right now, the emotion pressed flush in the space between skin and skin?  How _hungry_ Evalyn is?

A soft sigh stutters its way out from Avery’s chest and it’s the loveliest thing Evalyn’s heard all day.  She drinks it up, delighted, enraptured by the tiny little response. Ever so slightly, Avery leans in to her palm.  

Evalyn wants to devour them whole.  

“Sweetheart, darling.  You are not the only monster here tonight.”  It’s not so much a kiss as it is a gasp of shared air, teasing and cruel.  Avery’s lips are chapped and trembling against the curve of Evalyn’s smile.  

“Now please, let me take you home.”  

 

_______________

 

Evalyn’s apartment is a damn mess.  Despite that Avery moves between the things strewn across the floor with all the grace of a jungle cat, feet noiseless against the dirty carpet.  Evalyn admires the figure they cut, all lithe muscle and broad shoulders in the weak light filtering in through the window.

“Do you need anything before we get started?” she asks.  Let it never be said she’s not an attentive host. “A glass of water? A bite to eat?”  Avery stares at her incredulously from where they’ve already begun stripping out of their shirt.  

“If I wanted food I would have bought it at the diner.  Are we going to hook up or not?”

A laugh escapes her, surprisingly light considering everything she’s done tonight.  The blood on Evalyn’s hands is less literal than the gore Avery was washing off earlier but she knows it’s still there.  

Avery narrows their eyes.  “Well?”

Evalyn finally makes a move to take her shoes off, unbuckling her belt as she crosses the room.  The untucked hem of her button-up falls around her thighs when she drops her trousers.

“Shh, whatever happened to having a little patience?” she murmurs.  Avery is still pinning her with that steely, intense look when she runs a finger under their chin and tilts them into a kiss.  

_Be good._

There’s a breathless moment where Evalyn can feel them considering the suggestion, examining it.  Deciding whether to let her in. And then with a little sigh Avery’s whole body goes lax as they allow their natural defenses to fall away like so many leaves in the autumn, leaving them naked and bare.  

Evalyn’s heartbeat feels loud in her chest.  Arousal. Adrenaline. Excitement. And something tender, warm, strange to her in a way she doesn’t quite understand.  Is it from her? Is it from Avery? When she’s so close like this Evalyn can’t always tell - odd sympathies passing between bodies in the night.  

There is no room for tenderness in her.  She rewards them with another kiss, deeper, messier.  Avery gives a moan as Evalyn’s tongue dives into their mouth and plunders it.  She grabs their jaw and tilts it to get a better angle, uses the other hand to grip their hair.  

“Get on the bed,” she commands.  Avery moves to comply. Evalyn notices something and snorts.  “Shoes off first though, maybe.”

“No.”  Avery’s managed to get out of their pants somehow, untangling the legs from around their ankles while still keeping their combat boots on.  “The shoes stay.”

She can sense there’s a reason, but Evalyn can read sentiment, not minds.  She shrugs. “It’s kind of hot,” she admits, and imagines them naked with nothing but their boots.  Yes, that- mmm. “Hold on,” she says, a little distracted now. She rummages around in her bedside drawer a bit before tossing a few things Avery’s way.  “Get that on there while I grab something.”

Avery looks down at the dildo with a raised eyebrow.  “Sharing toys with strangers is kind of nasty,” they remark.

“That’s what the condom is for.  Do you really want to make a run to the sex shop right now to get you a virgin dick?”  

They snort.  “Fair enough,” they say, and tear the condom wrapper open with their teeth.  “I could afford it though…” Evalyn can hear them mumble right before Avery arranges the condom at the tip and sticks the whole thing in their mouth.  

Evalyn has never been much of a size queen when it came to her toys but now she wishes she had something bigger, much bigger, just so she could see the look on Avery’s face when she made them take it.  “Right,” she says faintly. Shit, she was already wet. What was she going to do again? Avery looks up at her from beneath their lashes and smirks as they bob their head. Ah, yeah, right, Evalyn was going to get some fun supplies because this one was shaping up to be a _brat_.  

They’re not fancy cuffs.  Mass packaged and sold at Lion’s Den, and bought when Evalyn had decided to try her luck at a local club only to get tossed out on her ass before any real fun had started.  She smooths the pleather beneath her hands.

“Avery,” she calls, and emerges from her closet to find Avery on their back, halfway to working the toy inside themself already.  They are completely naked now, shirt gone, boxers gone, binder off. Boots remaining, of course. They look up at her with a lazy grin and move to impale themself on the toy fully.  

Evalyn hurries over and snatches it from their grasp.  “Oh I am going to have to punish you for that,” she hisses.  For an absurd moment she almosts shakes the slick dildo in their face like she’s scolding a dog.  Avery’s smile only grows wider and they wiggle their hips.

“Is this the part where I call you mistress?”  They glance over at the cuffs and make a face. “Hmm. Those don’t look like real leather.”  

Evalyn takes a deep breath.  Breathes out. “If you don’t stop judging my sex toys I will make you clean my entire bathroom with a toothbrush,” she says clearly.  The housekeeping kink wasn’t really her thing but for Avery she would make an exception. “Naked. I’ll watch, in a bathrobe and a face mask.”  

“Mmm, sexy,” Avery says with a quiet laugh.  Something flutters in Evalyn’s stomach. What was happening?  “I’ve always been shit at chores, but I’d do it for that view.”  They sit up and crawl forward, hair falling around their face.

“How about this instead?  I let you tie me up in those costume party cuffs of yours and then you use me as quick and messy as you like,” Avery drawls.  “Don’t worry about me, honey, I can take it. They built me _very_ tough.”  

And Evalyn knows they can.  The could feel it when they first touched Avery’s skin, can sense it even now with the emotion saturating the room around them.  Avery is used to pain. Avery invites it. There is a wild animal in Evalyn’s bed, and if Evalyn proves herself worthy they will let her put a collar around their neck for a night.  

Gently she reaches out and tucks some of Avery’s hair behind their ear.  “You want me to use you?” she murmurs, voice dropping. Avery’s eyes go half-lidded as the influence of Evalyn’s words already begin taking effect.  “You want me to make you beg for it?”

When she pushes them back onto the bed Avery goes without a goes without a sound.  The scars criss crossing their body contrast with the wrinkled white backdrop of Evalyn’s sheets.  Evalyn follows them, crawling up Avery’s body until she is hovering above them. Her shirt whispers across Avery’s skin, their firm chest, the pebble of their nipples, as she leans down to lay a hand on their cheek.  

“ _Then be a good pet_ ,” she murmurs, and takes Avery’s earlobe between her teeth.  

Sympathy magic looks good on Avery.  They relax into it, the constant watchfulness that always surrounds them suddenly gone as they moan into Evalyn’s touch.  In this moment, they are whatever Evalyn wants them to be. Desire to please her however Evalyn wants to be pleased. Evalyn lets herself touch, hands roaming all over Avery’s body as she drinks them in greedily, their compliance all the sweeter for the fact that it could have been denied to her.  

She pulls back from where she’s suckled an angry bruise on the underside of Avery’s chest.  “Hands,” she rasps, arousal making her voice thick. Avery turns over without hesitation and presses their wrists together behind their back, presenting them like a gift.  

Oh fuck that’s not what Evalyn had in mind but she’ll take it, Evalyn would take this.  Hurriedly she fumbles with the cuffs and buckles them on. “Good,” she gasps, and Avery moans in relief.  “Spread your legs,” she says, and they fall open at her word, the slick wetness between Avery’s trembling thighs visible in the dim light. Evalyn traces one delicate finger through it, mesmerized, and feels the muscles shake underneath her touch.  

“This is what you get for trying to start without me,” she mumbles thickly, and flips Avery back over so that they’re facing up towards the ceiling.  

Avery blinks, legs immediately falling back open in compliance with Evalyn’s last command.  “What-” they mumble, right before Evalyn swings a leg over their head and sits on their face.  

Oh, shit, she’d forgotten to take her underwear off.  Evalyn pushes the fabric aside and teases Avery, lip to lip.  “You’re going to- oh!” Evalyn gasps, and tilts forwards as she feels an exploratory lick already teasing up the seam of her.  “I-mmm. You’re going to - mmm, ah - eat me out. Until I’ve - mph - decided you’ve earned a good fucking.” Evalyn had been going somewhere with this.  Right. Dangerous little brat. Needed a firm hand.

It feels weird to have someone laugh into her cunt.  “This is a punishment?”

“Fuck you,” Evalyn giggles, and oh, oh, that was a very good and clever tongue.  “Avery I swear if you don’t keep- oh, yes. Right there. Mmmm yes, like that,” she gasps, and the next few minutes are spent just riding Avery’s face, using that pretty, insolent little mouth to her heart’s content.  

When she comes she’s almost surprised by it.  “Ah,” she sighs, a quiet little sound in the emptiness of her apartment.  Her hands tighten around her headboard as she rides out the aftershocks, hips juddering in rhythmic little motions.  She can’t see it, but she knows the sheets are soaked where Avery is still spread apart. “Oh. Oh pet. You did so good.”  

“Please,” Avery mumbles.  When Evalyn looks down she can see their eyes are glassy and their cheeks flushed dark, desire and need spilling off of them and into the space between their bodies.  “I’ve been good. Please.”

Evalyn wants to give them everything they’ve ever wanted.  

The thought stops her in her tracks.  Where had that come from? Avery notices the abrupt pause and looks up at her.  Evalyn feels pried open, seen. The vulnerability of it hits her chest like a sledgehammer.  

“I’ll be the one to decide whether you’ve been good or not,” are the words that fall out of her mouth.  Futilely she tries to gather all the tenderness inside her and shove it in a little black box, bury it in deep where it can’t be seen.  Damn her gift, and damn Avery for looking up at her with those wide eyes, reflecting everything Evalyn feels back at her like an accusation.  

“Get up,” Evalyn snaps, and wobbles off the bed.  Her knees almost give out underneath her as she fumbles for her strap-on.  Shit, Avery had really gone to town on her. Avery’s sitting up, confused when Evalyn turns back around with the toy from earlier jutting up from her hips.  

“You’re going to ride me, and I’m going to watch.”  She tries not to look them in the eye but it’s difficult.  Everything Avery is demands her attention, a black hole in the emotional fabric of her apartment.  Evalyn just finds herself staring at the tanned length of their calf and biting her lip.

She swallows.  “And if I like the show you put on, then maybe I’ll let you come.”  

There’s a soft whimper, and then Avery is obeying, shifting down the bed so that Evalyn can scoot back on and recline against the pillows.  The muscles in their thighs flex as they hold themselves still. Evalyn just wants to touch, to know every inch of them and run her hands over all that trembling flesh and bone.  

“Get over here,” she says hoarsely, and Avery doesn’t need to be told twice before they scramble over and sink down onto her with a noisy groan.  

The sound abruptly cuts off.  “Can I make noise, may I please make some noise,” they ask, voice shaky.  Evalyn makes some sort of incoherent moan and buries her face in their shoulder.  

“Fuck, yes please.  Let me hear you, handsome.”  

Avery groans again and rears up, raising themself high before sinking down with a choked gasp.  Evalyn wraps her hands around their waist and tightens her grip when they make to fuck themself on the toy again.  

“What do you say?”  She bites at Avery’s collarbone because it’s there and she can, and is rewarded with a small noise.

“What?”  

“What do you say, when I let you have something nice?”  Evalyn can do this, she can dom the hell out of the most gorgeous thing to ever tumble into her bed.  

This close, Evalyn can feel the shaky exhale rattling through their chest.  “Thank you,” Avery whispers. “Thank you.” And with that Avery rises and bears down on the toy once more.  

There is strength in Avery’s core that doesn’t yield even as they impale themselves on Evalyn again and again, even as their moans get louder and louder and their body shakes.  Evalyn is swept up in their delirious chase for pleasure, feeling what they feel, moaning when Avery moans, gut clenching when Avery manages to hit somewhere just right. Her hands wander up their thighs, across the expanse of their abdomen, fingertips tracing the whorl of a scar up on a shoulder.  When Evalyn smooths her palms across their lower back she feels something, a sharp, desperate spike that makes her pause.

“Do you like that?” she asks, and does it again.  Avery sucks in a deep breath and tries to lean into and away from the touch at the same time, sensitive, so sensitive in the divot at the base of their spine.  The more Evalyn touches - hard and kneading, soft and gentle strokes, feather light teasing - the more Avery writhes on top of her, sharp, punched out little noises escaping their chest.  

“Keep touching me there,” they say, demanding and pleading at the same time, and Evalyn does, of course she does, how could she not want to give them everything they ask?  One hand finds theirs, still cuffed behind them through all their desperation. Their fingers tangle together. “Please, please don’t stop touching me,” Avery begs.

“Never,” Evalyn replies, and chases the words with a kiss.  

Avery rides her like a wild thing, and Evalyn can feel it like a sharp starburst in her gut every time they peak.  Once, twice, three times - it’s difficult to keep track after that, climaxes blurring together as Avery cries out above her, loud at first, and then softer, whimpering as they become overstimulated and sensitive.  At one point their movements falter, chest heaving, legs shaking. Evalyn gives them a little pinch right above the buttock and they jerk, making a quiet noise of surprise.

“Did I say you can stop?” Evalyn gasps, feeling out of breath herself.  She’s drenched in sweat, the air feeling liquid around them. Avery looks at her with dazed eyes.  It takes them a while to process her words.

“N-no, mistress.”  

“So should you be stopping?”  

Avery’s eyes go half-lidded.  “No, mistress.”

Evalyn rewards them with a kiss.  Avery sways into it drunkenly, needy, and whimpers when she pulls away.  Oh no, darling - Evalyn tips her fingers under their chin, brushing a thumb against their lips.  

“You’re doing so well, sweetheart,” she praises, and can feel the ways her words sate them, satisfying a need that is bone deep.  Her hand runs down their chest. Evalyn wants, Evalyn _wants_.  “You have one more in you, don’t you?  You can do it for me.”

It’s the right thing to say.  Evalyn can feel it, their desire aligning perfectly with hers.  “For you? Anything,” Avery says softly, and starts moving again with a quiet moan.  

Beautiful.  Perfect. Evalyn cups their face in her hands and Avery just leans against her, vulnerable and trusting in a way that could move her to violence.  This was hers, this was hers, and Avery had given it to her.

It feels like Evalyn has the entire world between her palms.  

“Come now, Avery.  Come one more time.”  

And Avery does, wrung out and with a desperate sob, skin tacky with sweat and exertion.  Evalyn’s lap is soaked. When they collapse against her she catches them on the downward fall, gathering them into herself as Avery tucks their head into the crook of her neck.  

“You did good, so good.  Sweet thing, beautiful,” Evalyn mumbles into their hair.  Endearments keep spilling from her lips. “So good, so good for me.”  Avery doesn’t answer - can’t answer, she can feel - but lips press against her neck, her shoulder, peppering her skin with tired little kisses.  

Evalyn feels wrung out.  Exhausted. It’s an effort to clean up, to lay Avery down, unbuckle the cuffs from around their wrists and untangle herself from the harness of the strap on.  Evalyn wobbles into the bathroom and tosses the whole mess into her bathtub before stumbling back to bed.

They two of them are disgusting, but it’d be an excuse for shower sex in the morning, Evalyn thinks in a haze.  Maybe after breakfast, they’d need the energy if they wanted to-

_Who are you kidding, Evalyn Ruiz?_

Evalyn stumbles to a stop.  

There is no room for tenderness in her.  Not with her history, her reputation, her deeds.  It was just a post-adrenaline hook up. There was no morning after, no breakfast in bed, no sleep softened Avery opening their eyes next to her, murmuring _good morning_ -

Evalyn stands there in the middle of her bedroom, naked as the day she was born, and trembles.  

The figure on the bed stirs.  When Evalyn looks up Avery is looking at her, eyes gleaming in the low light from the bathroom door.  Their lips part.

“Baby,” they sigh, and Evalyn’s heart clenches.  “Baby, come to bed.”

_There is no room for tenderness-_

Inside her, something shatters.  

“Avery,” she whispers.  On the bed Avery’s eyes go from half mast to alert, feeling the change in the air.  Avery sits up as Evalyn approaches and she lowers herself beside the bed until the two of them are face to face.  

Absently she reaches out and tucks a lock of hair behind their ear.  “Avery, if I asked you to stay, would you?”

They cock their head.  “How long are we talking about here,” they reply, wariness blunted by sleepiness and sex.  Evalyn laughs, feeling strange and unmoored.

“As long as you like.”  She gets up on the bed next to them.  “Long enough to have breakfast, have round two in the morning.”  Avery grins at that, and Evalyn finds her hand creeping over to cover theirs.  “Long enough for you to have fun during your stay here, whether that be for a few days, a few weeks.”  

Evalyn licks her lips.  “Long enough for the two of us to have run of this city, if you’d like.”  

Avery stills.  “You trying to recruit a partner in crime?”  Something sours in the air, and Evalyn rushes to fill the empty space.  

“Not a partner in crime, or-” the realization comes to her, “-not a contract, or a business deal.”  For all her sympathy Evalyn struggles to find the right words. “But. A partnership, of a sort, yes.”  

Despite her floundering she must be broadcasting her intentions loudly enough, because Avery’s eyes widen just a little bit.  Evalyn braces herself but there’s no scoff, no laughter. No sound of mattress springs as Avery gets up to gather their things and head for the door.  

Instead, there’s silence.  “I’m a professional,” Avery says slowly.  “Those obligations aren’t so easy to get out of.”  

It wasn’t a no.  Hope was a strange feeling.  “What sort of obligations are we talking about here?”  

Their eyes shift away.  “To my work. My...family.”  Grief, disgust, fear - it’s there and gone again in an instant as Avery locks it down.  “I need to travel fairly often.”

Evalyn considers this.  “But even a, hmm, traveling professional needs a base of operations, right?  Make it here, in Seattle. Make it-” _With me_.  

Avery barks out a laugh.  “They’ll send someone after me.”  

“Who.”  

This silence is longer.  “My brother.”

Avery has a brother.  Evalyn tucks that information away even as she reaches out and tilts her finger under Avery’s chin, turning them towards her.  “And will he also be able to resist me?”

Something flashes across Avery’s eye.  “You-” they choke, and jealousy coils thick in the air like a sparking power line.  Evalyn’s eyes widen.

“I mean, if I do this.”  And she exerts her will over Avery again, feeling a moment of resistance before Avery realizes what’s happening and lets her in.   _Relax, dearest_ , and Avery relaxes.  

They frown.  “I-I don’t know.”  

Evalyn smiles.  “I’m very good at what I do,” she murmurs.  Avery sways into her and Evalyn presses her point.  “And I’m not alone in this city. I have a very...talented friend.  Even if your brother shares your knack for, hmm, insusceptibility, I’m sure Sigrun can take good care of him.”  

“I-”  And Evalyn can feel Avery begin to fold, even if their mouth is still a tight thin line.  “Give me time to think about it.”

“For you, I have all the time in the world.”  Evalyn kisses them, wrapping them in reassurance, and Avery lets them.  “Take your time with me, Avery.”

They snort.  “Grand words from a woman whose name I don’t even know.”  

Had she really never told them?  Evalyn hides her smile against the curve of their cheek.  “Evalyn, my name is Evalyn.”

“Evalyn,” they sigh, tasting the name, rolling it around.  “Evalyn, Evalyn.”

On their tongue, it sounds perfect.  On their tongue, it sounds like home.  “Stay here with me, in this shitty little apartment, in this shitty city.  Stay, and make it ours.”

“Your shitty apartment, huh?” they laugh tiredly.  There’s something there, something old and sad. “Just a normal shitty apartment, like something out of a magazine.”  

There’s a weight to those words, and Evalyn doesn’t know how to make it lighter.  “Go to sleep,” she murmurs instead. Her fingers run through Avery’s hair. “Sleep.  We’ll talk about it more in the morning.”

Avery goes without protest.  They sit docily at the edge of the bed as Evalyn pulls her shirt off, then kneels to finally take off one of Avery’s boots, then the other.  Sometime clatters to the floor and Evalyn stares.

“That’s a knife,” she says dumbly.  

“Mmm.”  Avery blinks and looks down at the wicked looking blade.  “Oh, yeah.”

“You were keeping a knife in your boot this entire time?”  

They reach down and fish around in the other shoe.  “Two knives,” they say sleepily, and slip the other weapon under their pillow.  They curl up under the blankets and look at her.

“Evalyn, come to bed,” they murmur, and something in her thrills to hear her name in their mouth.  Evalyn carefully sets the other knife aside on the dresser where Avery can reach it and climbs in with them.  

“I still have questions,” she tries, and Avery _pouts_.  

“You said in the morning,” they grumble, and Evalyn laughs softly, because they’re right.  

“Fine, fine,” she says, and lets it be.  

It’s warm under the covers together.  Avery sleepily tucks their head under her arm.  She holds them and rests her chin on their head, staring out into the darkness while the faint sound of highway traffic can be heard through the window.  

Sleep.  Breakfast.  Shower sex. And then the rest of the future, sprawling out before them like so much endless unspooled thread.  

There was no room for tenderness in her.  But for Avery, she was willing to make some.    



End file.
